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Show 71 The Battle of Cummitn ...'. ' linni'ftjitinniiii - . '!,. .1 . - MMMk. The CKarqe into Tall Bull's Camp, ' , j ("From a picture in a Buffalo Bill's . , ( " ti Wild We st Show Program) J By ELMO SCOTT WATSON ' IO IXTY-FIVE years ago, on July 11, "SS. tf M 1 I860, there was fought in eastern iSoST W s shueii v ""V Colorado an Jndlan battle which, . " ,3p8p&. -W tig I by a curious chain of circum- gJaHp. gp'vT q w I stances, is more famous for an inci- t ' II - I dent in it which never took place ?' jtgfflt a ' '"MW I 'M jfHH I I h an it is for any one of several in- mm "9V i " ' , fl I . I terestlng incidents in it that actual- J$r' ''XJFt - f jmLW I J II ly did. If you In your youth ever Jm Sf, Z - 'Wh 1 sat through a performance of Buf- l&$p?F K-MfWL,, W jmmS I thrilled to the wift moving and col- ffl" ' , x , " )f VK V orful pageantry of that exhibition, P.. ' y ' N'- which for many years was a climax of the per- FfN j1 that you came away from it with the belief that -fP' ' - n in this battle, "Buffalo Bill" Cody, the scout, V' "Ml GpriStxaV rT&A farr charged through the Indian village at the head t.txerve A. larr of tlie troops, saved one white woman from death Kl;? " -JK ' . v, A t ,, t. u u a : ' . . , u , v 'ji - . . her and telling her that her life would be spared at the hands of the savages and avenged the v S-il" .V u IU 2 T , , , ... K , , rnn t,,,,, K,, . - Jf - 'sf Jv, '? It was (" known a t hi !!! that the Indian killing ol another by slaying Tall Bull, chief of , ;..-;:--.-i:-i-Wv". SBmSSriM . . . , , . , the Dog Soldier Gheyennes. 2 in thea"n ' 1 f'POf of that fact The only thing "wrong with this picture" is Tall Bull,Fnn, the Portrait by H.H.CroiS Z i ty. , f T ' T that it's all wrong. For the facts of the Battle torr took the 18 Indian women and children who By ELMO SCOTT WATSON IO IXTY-FIVE years ago, on July 11, 18(19, there was fought in eastern "1 Colorado an Indian battle which, tS w I by a curious chain of circum-I circum-I stances, is more famous for an incl-I incl-I dent In It which never took place I than it is for any one of several ln- I terestlng incidents in it that actual-4 actual-4 1 1 ly did. If you in your youth ever 1 m I snt through a performance of Buf-i Buf-i falo Bill's Wild West show and W t thrilled to the swift-moving and col-V col-V j-J orful pageantry of that exhibition, you probably remember the "reproduction "re-production of the Battle of Summit Springs" which for many years was a climax of the performance. per-formance. If so, you probably remember also that you came away from it with the belief that In this battle, "Buffalo Bill" Cody, the scout, charged through the Indian village at the head of the troops, saved one white woman from death at the hands of the savages and avenged the killing of another by slaying Tall Bull, chief of the Dog Soldier Gheyennes. The only thing "wrong with this picture" is that It's all wrong. For the facts of the Battle of Summit Springs, as they are recorded in such authoritative works as George Bird Grinnell'3 "The Fighting Cheyennes" and "Two Great Scouts and Their Pawnee Battalion," are these: In June, 1809, eight troops of the Fifth cavalry, cav-alry, who had been campaigning in Kansas and Colorado under Maj. W. B. Royall, were ordered to Fort McPherson, Neb., for a summer campaign against hostile Indians, especially the band of Dog Soldier Cheyennes, led by Chief Tall Bull, one of the worst raiders on the plains of that period. The troops were placed under the command com-mand of Gen. Eugene A. Carr, a major of the Fifth who had risen to the rank of major general gen-eral in the Civil war. At Fort McPherson the command was joined by three companies of Pawnee Paw-nee Indian scouts, commanded by Maj. Frank North, with his brother, Luther H. North, as captain of one of the companies. The other officers offi-cers of the scouts were Captains Cushing and Murie and Lieutenants Becher, Matthews and Kislingberry. There, too, they were joined by two civilian scouts, a certain Garry and William F. Cody, already known as "Buffalo Bill." Carr's pursuit of the Indians led him 150 miles into the present state of Colorado. Early on the morning of July 11 North's Pawnees found the site of the camp that Tall Bull's people had left the previous day, after which they had separated separat-ed into three parties. Accordingly Carr divided his command to continue the pursuit. With part of the cavalry and five or six Pawnee scouts he followed the left-hand trail toward the northwest. north-west. The rest of the cavalry, commanded by Royall with Cody as their guide, took the right-hand right-hand trail toward the northeast and Frank and Luther North with Captain Cushing and 35 of the Pawnees took the middle trail which led directly di-rectly north. Fifteen miles up the trail one of the Pawnees who had gone with Carr came riding swiftly to Major North with the news that some of his fellows fel-lows had found the Cheyenne village at the place now called Summit Springs. So the Norths and their detachment immediately turned west and galloped over to join Carr and his men who had dismounted and were waiting behind a ridge of sand hills. Carr had also sent word to Royall, but, after waiting half an hour for that officer to appear and fearful lest the hostiles might learn of the presence of the troops and escape, he decided to attack. Ordering his troopers Into their saddles, Carr advanced toward the village which was about three miles away. When the column reached a long valley which ran almost down to the village, vil-lage, Carr gave the command to charge. Frank North was riding a very fast horse and he was the first to speed over the brow of the hill below be-low which the Cheyennes' lodges were pitched. Tall Bull and his people had no Idea that they had been pursued so closely. As the day was warm, they were lounging In the shade of their lodges with most of their ponies grazing on the her and telling her that her life would be spared. It was not known at the time that the Indian In the ravine was Tall Bull. Proof of that fact came three days later at Fort Sedgwick, where Carr took the 18 Indian women and children who were captured at Summit Springs. There Leo Palliday, an Interpreter, recognized the Indian woman as the wife of Tall Bull and asked her if her husband had been killed In the battle. "Yes," she replied, pointing to Frank North, "This man killed him where I came out of the ravine." By late afternoon the pursuit of the fleeing Indians In-dians among the hills was given up and the soldiers sol-diers and Pawnee scouts returned to the village and began rounding up the horses and mules, more than 400 In number, that the Indians had abandoned. Soon afterwards a terrific rain and hail storm struck the camp and the victorious soldiers were forced to take refuge in the Indian lodges. In the midst of this storm, Buffalo Bill came riding Into camp, followed a little later by Major Royall and his detachment. They had missed the fighting entirely and their only part in the Battle of Summit Springs was In the "mopping up" process that of disposing of all the rich plunder which was found In Tall Pull's camp. As for Buffalo Bill's becoming the "hero of the Battle of Summit Springs" It came about In this manner: Soon after the battle when the expedition expedi-tion had returned to Fort McPherson, Elmo Z. C. Judson ("Ned Buntllne"), a prolific writer of dime novels, visited the post. In the exploits of Maj. Frank North, the "White Chief of the Pawnees," Paw-nees," he saw the material for many a thriller. But Frank North was not the type of man who cared to be made a dime novel hero. He pooh-poohed pooh-poohed all of Buntllne's proposals to make him one. "If you want a man to fill that bill, he's over there under the wagon," he said. So Bunt-line Bunt-line went over and poked young Bill Cody with his foot. The twenty-three-year-old scout opened his eyes and looked up at the man who was to make him famous as "Buffalo Bill" on the stage and between the paper covers of dime novels. That was In the seventies. A few years later Buffalo Bill-, having tasted the delights of fame and hero-worship, was amazing two continents with a new venture In the amusement business the Wild West show. And living up to the reputation rep-utation which had been created for him by Ned Buntline and other publicity agents he was "reproducing" "re-producing" the Battle of Summit Springs and appearing In the arena as the hero of that engagement. en-gagement. Three years after the Battle of Summit Springs Luther North heard the story being circulated giving Cody, then on the stage In Bunt line's "Scouts of the Plains," credit Tor the killing of Tall Bull. He was Indignant and said to his brother "Why don't you correct that?" Put Frank North only laughed and replied " am not In the show business." And with this modest disclaimer a truly great scout passed up his chance for fame as tlie slayer slay-er of one of the most dangerous "public enemies" of the frontier era and allowed a lesser man to wear such laurels, spurious though they were. by Weitftrn NtiwMi.npor Union. prairie some little distance away. Before they realized what was happening the Norths and their Pawnees came racing over the hill, followed fol-lowed a moment later by Carr's cavalrymen, who charged among the lodges, shooting as they came. Thrown into a panic by the attack, the Cheyennes scattered in every direction without attempting to offer any resistance. A few escaped es-caped on ponies which had been picketed near the lodges but the most of them fled on foot, taking refuge in the ravines and washouts of the surrounding hills. Carr's cavalrymen now divided up Into squads and began hunting down the scattered enemy through the ravines. Meanwhile the Norths and Captain Cushing had ridden up to a big lodge near the end of the village which, it later developed, de-veloped, was the lodge of Tall Bull, the chief. As Cushing dismounted, a white woman captive came crawling out of the lodge and, running up to him, fell to her knees and clasped him around the legs, talking In a pleading but unintelligible fashion. She was a Mrs. Welchel, foreign-born and unable to speak English, but the Norths and Cushing finally succeeded In making her understand under-stand that she was safe at last. Tall Bull had made her his wife and when Carr's men charged his camp he had shot her to prevent her being rescued alive by the soldiers but had succeeded only In Inflicting a 6erlous wound In the chest. While they were talking to her, Capt. Luther North started to ride away. Beside a little creek that ran through the village he came upon the body of another white woman who had been killed by the blow of a tomahawk. She was Mrs. Suzannah Alderdice, who had been captured In the same raid in Kansas with Mrs. Welchel and who had shared with her the horrors of captivity captiv-ity among Tall Bull's Dog Soldiers for more than a year. It has been said that Tall Bull himself struck the blow which killed Mrs. Alderdice but there is no definite proof as to this. Meanwhile the work of hunting down the fugitive fugi-tive Indians was going on all around the village. vil-lage. During this phase of the battle the two Norths with a party of their Pawnees surrounded one of the ravines Into which a number of the Cheyennes had taken refuge. Among them were Tall Bull with his wife and little daughter. As the two Norths rode past this ravine, an Indian In-dian raised up and fired at them, then dropped down out of sight again. His bullet narrowly missed Frank North, who sprang down from his horse and handed Luther North his bridle rein, saying "Ride away and when he hears that he will put up his head again." As Luther North started to lope away, the Indian raised his head to look and Frank North shot him In the forehead. fore-head. A moment later the Indian woman and her little daughter climbed out of the ravine and walking over to Frank North, began talking to him In the sign language and begging for mercy. North replied in the same manner, reassuring 4 |